Beyond Books: Celebrate Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week is an annual week-long celebration bringing to light historical and current attempts to ban books in schools and libraries. This year we are celebrating during the week of September 18-24 with the theme: Books Unite Us.
Banned Books Week started in 1982, making this the 40th anniversary of recognizing the freedom to express ideas and access information of all types. The American Library Association (ALA) launched it as a response to a very sudden surge in the number of books being challenged in schools, libraries, and bookstores. A “challenge” can take several forms. Some requests are to completely remove an item from the shelves, while others are requests to relocate an item to another area of the shelves. Ultimately, all challenges are an attempt to censor public access to materials.
Libraries believe in the fREADom for everyone to have access to the materials that they want to read, regardless of content. Public libraries serve as public forums, established to serve everyone in the community. With that in mind, we should provide all the opportunities for people to see themselves reflected in a library’s books.Banned Books Week calls attention to the harms of censorship by publicizing some of the actual titles being challenged.
The ALA provides a list of the top 10 challenged books as reported to their office of Intellectual Freedom at https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10. Some may surprise you. Recent lists have classics that were published many years ago, like "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, and "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Many recent titles, often involving current events or discussions of puberty, also make the list.
The list, of course, only includes the known cases of censorship. Many times, books simply disappear from the shelves and may not be rediscovered for weeks or months.
If you would like ideas for how to speak out for citizen’s rights to read, here are some suggestions:• Start a banned book club at your school or library.• Write a letter to a banned author, sharing how their words have impacted you personally. You can use resources from the ALA’s Dear Banned Author campaign here: https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/dear-banned-author• Join the Unite Against Book Bans campaign (https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/), which provides talking points and social media tools to fight against censorship.
Chillicothe and Ross County Public Library is celebrating Banned Books Week this week. You are welcome to drop by any location to check out a banned book and our Banned Books Week displays. For more information on Banned Books Week, check out ALA’s Banned Books Week website at https://bannedbooksweek.org/
Kelsey Holmes is the Youth Services Assistant at the Main Library. When she’s not reading Banned Books, she’s sewing magical things while listening to audiobooks. You can reach her at kholmes@crcpl.org.
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Beyond Books: Celebrate Banned Books Week
